Creative Flooring Solutions: Canada’s retail brand powerhouse

In less than ten years, Creative Flooring Solutions has grown into one of, if not the largest, privately owned flooring company in Canada, according to Scott Brookfield, chairman and CEO of the diverse, on-the-move operation.

Brookfield was a venture capitalist/chartered accountant with a background in construction and insurance when Wacky Wheatley’s asked him to help find a buyer. He liked the business so much, Brookfield ended up acquiring the business.

Creative Flooring Solutions is now the parent company of a trio of businesses that dominate the Halifax/Dartmouth area of Nova Scotia. Taylor Flooring, Wacky’s Floor Design Centre and Hallmark Carpet One Floor & Home were independent operations until each was acquired by Creative Flooring Solutions, resulting in a diversified flooring powerhouse.

In 2013, Creative Flooring Solutions acquired a fourth company in Halifax — RCCL (Ralph Connor Company Limited), an all commercial flooring business — and Hallmark Carpet One has moved to a new location, which, at 10,000 square feet, is the largest of any of Creative’s showrooms.

“It is located at the Atrium, a 200,000 square foot mall made up of furniture stores. Hallmark is the only flooring store. We designed it to have more space so it is not crowded and has a very modern look. Hallmark will be our major residential renovation brand, while Wacky’s and Taylor are more builder focused,” Brookfield said.

Watch for Creative to continue to grow. “We will do more expansion outside Nova Scotia,” Brookfield predicted. “But, will stay in Atlantic Canada. We’ll continue to improve and fine-tune our businesses.”

First, there was Wacky’s
In 2007, Creative purchased Wacky Wheatley’s operation from partners Mike Wheatley and Larry Gumbley. “Wacky’s started in 1980 in Bedford, Nova Scotia, as a large discount retailer of carpet and vinyl,” explained Larry Woodland, vice president of operations and sales for Wacky’s Flooring Group. “It ended up with five locations in the Maritime Provinces that were largely retail with a small commercial operation. Between 1980 and the acquisition, we grew Wacky’s to be a complete retail operation that offered the best prices on all types of flooring and window treatments. We had decorators on staff and a builder business. Scott Brookfield decided the company had a lot of potential. He said he wanted to double the size of the business in five years and he delivered through both acquisition and organic growth,” Woodland reported. There are now seven Wacky’s locations including Commercial Carpet Centres. Woodland said, “Now Wacky’s is known for our wide selections of flooring, an educated staff including decorators, and excellent installation services. Scott Brookfield encourages a fresh approach to explore other opportunities. We have recently added cabinets.”

Taylor makes two
Taylor Flooring was Wacky’s biggest competitor in the Halifax/Dartmouth area, until 2009, when Creative Flooring Solutions bought Taylor Flooring from Robert Taylor, who continues to lead the division. Taylor is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

Taylor’s brand strategy is that all 300,000 people in the Halifax/Dartmouth area should consider Taylor to be synonymous with quality flooring and service, according to John Wells, Taylor’s general manager, who became a minority shareholder. “Other companies focused on volume and price so we attracted a quality demographic,” Wells said.

When Wells joined the business in 2001, it had one store each in the sister cities of Halifax and Dartmouth. Taylor opened its Sydney showroom in 2005 and its fourth store in Bridgewater, an hour’s drive southwest of Halifax, in 2006.

Hallmark: The third big brand
In 2012, Creative Flooring Solutions acquired Hallmark Carpet One. “Taylor’s four locations are high-end Mohawk Color Centers and Wacky’s seven are aligned Shaw dealers,” Brookfield explained. “I had been looking for a business with a presence in the Halifax marine industry and Cliff Gaetz, the former owner of Hallmark, is a player in that business. He was ready to sell the Carpet One business and is now our general manager. It was an opportunity to acquire another brand that has good potential for growth.”

Strength in numbers
While each flooring brand serves a different market, there is strength in being part of a larger organization. “We maintain three separate companies in the region, but pool resources for warehousing, purchasing, installation and administration,” Wells explained. “We have about 200 installers, who are dispatched by a central office every day. The biggest advantage is buying power and the accumulated resource of all three retail brands’ experienced staff.”